Customer Reviews

Before & After, Revised Edition: Living and Eating Well After Weight-Loss Surgery

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I found this book to be frustrating. As someone who has had a weight loss surgery procedure, I found her lack of personal insight annoying. She mostly discusses her extensive travel, fancy clothing labels and gourmet dining experiences; that is, when she's not plugging her own website and products. This book seemed like a vanity project and nothing more.

What a person really wants and needs when researching WLS is a real and honest account of the ups and downs, before AND after surgery. They need to know that they aren't alone in their destructive behaviors and failures. Ms. Leach doesn't discuss how she got big in the first place, what behaviors lead to such a dramatic weight gain, etc. This book is mostly one long description of her privleged lifestyle and perfect figure (after plastic surgery). There are patients out there who don't have these pie-in-the-sky options, and I wonder how this book could possibly relate to them.

Additionally, over half of this book is dedicated to recipes. Recipes, by the way, that are not for the average working Joe/Josephine with children and several require you to buy products from her website in order to prepare them properly.

If you must read this "memoir", I would not suggest buying it. Check it out from your local library, or - better yet - find a more informational and substantial read elsewhere.

I have to admit, I found this book disappointing. I am pre-surgery, in the qualifying stages, and have done a lot of research. I hear about dumping and emotional changes and mood swings and changes in relationships with people, as well as with food. So I expected this book would give me a realistic view of what to expect ahead.
I know each person's experience is different, but I got tired of the diary of what gourmet food she was able to eat each day after surgery...plenty of ! points throughout the narrative, like a pre-teen's diary, but not a lot of useful information. I was also disappointed she went right on eating absolutely everything pre-surgery to say goodbye to food, and then found she can still enjoy gourmet delights, just in tiny portions. Most of us are not gourmets, and it is not a healthy approach to weight loss surgery to have your last supper three times a day every day before surgery. You need to get your head in the right place first, and for me, it is breaking the food addiction. Susan obviously is able to continue her love affair with food without skipping a beat, just tiny portions. There's very little about the emotional changes to expect, etc. - her life seems perfect, she can afford the plastic surgery afterward, etc. There was nothing about the psychological aspects involved, just the good times with friends and sharing delicious food and being loved. It just wasn't the kind of book I'd hoped for.
On the positive side, though, I will say the recipes are good, and are broken down into WLS portions and normal portions.
I guess I was expecting a "real" person with real issues, but instead this book is about someone who has her cake and eats it too.

Just got my book in the mail today and I've not put it down. I am a post RNY surgery patient and I bought Ms. Leach's original book at the start of my journey almost 3 years ago. I bought several books on the surgery but found Ms. Leach's to be my bible. This book offers a soft cover which makes it easier to lay open on the counter when using her recipes (the book actually stays open to the page). You can't beat the price. The valuable information contained in the book is a must for anyone considering the surgery, recovering from the surgery or like me 3 years post op. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

When I first read the good and bad review I thought "I can't be that bad" but it is!.
I am really disappointed with this book. It's like she is still in denial about why she needed the RNY in the first place not just the weight but the psychological reasons. She never goes into why she gained the weight. I am not interested in which celebrities got the WLS.

I bought this book hoping to get some REAL insight of what it does to you physically and emotionally. I got sick of reading how she goes out and has a wonderful time shopping at Macy's, eating a special sugar free cheesecake especially prepared for her. After 30 pages I was really wondering if people where endorsing her to mention all the brand names, because I am sure it is important to put in your diary for which car manufacturer you brother works for and that not just any pair of jeans didn't fit but the ones from DNKY. God forbid she actually wrote that she was actually feeling, it's like super perky Barbie.
This book is superficial and bland, lacking emotion it feels like a bad tv commercial IMO.

Believe it or not you'll actually find better WLS experiences on youtube.

I got sick of reading how wonderful Susan Maria's life is. She travels and has extremely expensive dinners out....how lucky. Not for your average WLS patient. I found her tone to be judgemental and superior. There are many books that do a MUCH better job! Read the reviews left for the first version of this book to get a better idea. I only wish zero stars were possible.

She makes it very obvious that she has money. Talks about fancy dinners out, fancy clothes, jewelry, trips.

What I was looking for was more information on what it is like to go through the surgery and dealing with the diet afterwards.

The author had a perfect recovery, everything was perfect and of course she has the perfect supplements to sell you on her web site.

I felt this book was not helpful to me. In fact I've already given it away.

At first, I was very excited to find "Before and After" because it seemed to be a personal account of someone's weight loss surgery journey, rather than a dry, nuts-and-bolts information book. Her journal is very interesting to read, but I felt like much of her advice and recipes is a little unrealistic for the average person.

Most of her journal entries talk about extragavant trips she took (Vegas, London, etc.) and her struggles dining at fancy restaurants. While eating out IS a big temptation after weight loss surgery, it's not the only one. What about how to prepare dinner for family? Or how to make it through a co-worker's birthday party? The journal seemed somewhat idealized, with emphasis on choosing the right foods whle eating out rather than the emotional struggles that go on after the surgery.

The recipes were equally unrealistic. While many of them sound delicious, they are obviously for people who do not work, have kids, etc. They are also not for people who live in a "normal" city where you can't buy international food at every corner.

I also got a little tired of hearing about her website, which I felt like she shamelessly advertised at every opportunity. I did go to the website, and unfortunately found that the products were VERY expensive. Although they may be good quality, and it would certainly be convenient to order everything from one place, the products aren't really accessible to someone on even the loosest of budgets.

If you want some light reading on the subject, or you can afford (time-and money-wise) to follow the recipes she gives, then this book is for you. Otherwise, you may want to look elsewhere.

As I was researching WLS this book was highly recommended to me and I am so glad I read it. It is very enlightening on the surgery but most of all it let's you peak into the daily life of a WLS person as they journey to get their weight off and most importantly keep it off. The main thing that I took from the book is that having WLS is definitely not the "easy way out" that most people think it is. You MUST change your eating habits as well as your relationship with food in order to be successful long term. The book helped me immensely with my decision as to have or not have WLS. In the end, since the same things must be changed in order to lose weight with or without the surgery, I decided to lose weight without the it and I am currently on that journey. This is not to say that everyone should make my choice but it is the right one for me and this book helped solidify that for me. Also, it is full of fabulous recipes that are tasty AND healthy.

do not get this book unless you are a self indulgent wealthy person getting wls. she goes on and on about her expensive clothes, traveling, fancy food, etc. i cant relate to her at all. not all of us can afford gourmet food, and tons of plastic surgery. this book is not for the average wls patient. it is just unrealistic.

I will admit that I didn't read most of the book but don't feel like I missed a lot after reading some of the comments here. I bought the book because I was looking for realistic recipes for meals post surgery. I got the book home and started looking at it and realized that it was so far from realistic it wasn't even funny. As someone else mentioned the recipes were more "gourmet" and extensive. Also the amounts of food that you were going to prepare were ridiculous. One recipe called for 8 chicken breasts, another for a pound and a half of shrimp. I've just had gastric bypass surgery and live alone. There is no way I will ever be able to consume a meal made with 8 chicken breasts by myself. Not to mention that when I really looked few of the recipes sounded all that appealing.